Farmer George is painting $3$ chicken coops. He started painting this morning. Now he only has $1\dfrac34$ of a chicken coop left to paint this afternoon. How many chicken coops did Farmer George paint this morning?
To see how many chicken coops Farmer George painted this morning, we need to subtract. $3$ $1\frac{3}{4}$ $?$ Total chicken coops Left to paint Painted $3} - {1\dfrac{3}{4}} = {\text{ chicken coops painted}}$ Let's subtract our fractions. $\begin{aligned} &3} &\dfrac04}\\\\ -&{1}&{\dfrac{3}{4}}\\ \hline\\ \end{aligned}$ We cannot subtract because $\dfrac04}$ is less than ${\dfrac{3}{4}}$. We need to regroup $D3$ so that the fractional part is greater than ${\dfrac{3}{4}}$. $\begin{aligned} D3 &=2 + 1} \\\\ &=2} + \dfrac44}\\\\ &=2\dfrac44} \end{aligned}$ We can replace $D3$ with $2} \dfrac{4}{4}}$. $\begin{aligned} &\overset{2}}{\cancel{3}}} &\dfrac{\overset{4}{\cancel{0}}}{4}}\\\\ -&{1}&{\dfrac{3}{4}}\\ \hline \end{aligned}$ Now, let's subtract the fractions. $\begin{aligned} &\overset{2}}{\cancel{3}}} &\dfrac{\overset{4}{\cancel{0}}}{4}}\\\\ -&{1}&{\dfrac{3}{4}}\\ \hline\\\\ &&{\dfrac14} \end{aligned}$ Next, let's subtract the whole numbers. $\begin{aligned} &\overset{2}}{\cancel{3}}} &\dfrac{\overset{4}{\cancel{0}}}{4}}\\\\ -&{1}&{\dfrac{3}{4}}\\ \hline\\\\ &1&{\dfrac14} \end{aligned}$ Farmer George painted $1\dfrac{1}{4}$ chicken coops this morning. This can also be written as $\dfrac{5}{4}$.